Leo (July 22-August 23)
To the extent you can, you need to choose the course your life is taking as a conscious act. In the Western world, this is the only path to enlightenment. We are faced with options; our one remaining power is to make decisions. Believe it or not, those decisions are most often choices between what is true and what is not. Life does not always seem this simple, and I doubt it seems so simple for you right now, but that is the nature of the moment you are in. Your great lesson the next four seasons is discernment. Surely, in hindsight long after this year has passed, what was worth believing and what was not will seem obvious. In any event, you have learned something in recent years, which is that you can influence the course of your own existence. You have an edge on those who typically refuse to do this, which is that you are willing to take full responsibilities for your successes as well as your errors. This is one of a very few qualities that distinguishes a mature person. Another is the ability to make decisions based on your values. If you consider your values carefully, you will notice that you actually don’t have very many of them. You also don’t need very many of them. Yet the ability to understand yourself and make your decisions based on an authentic sense of what matters to you is one of the highest expressions of humanity. You can be sure when the values of others will seem to warp the ground you stand on, and at such times you will need to be flexible but scrupulously honest with yourself about what matters most. You will need to look at the influences of those who say they are here to help you, and see them for what they are. They may indeed be helpful; they may be something else—you are the one who will need to notice the difference.
Virgo (August 23-September 22)
Saturn will be in your birth sign for the next two years, and everyone born under the sign Virgo will have this meaningful planet conjoin their natal Sun. This is one of the key life transits, and it can happen at any age; it is happening to you now or in the immediate future. In a personal chart, the theme is about fundamentally coming to terms with yourself. If it portends change, that change is about getting relief from nervousness and instability, and calling your life into focus. It is about having the confidence and substance to stand up to the world, which is so rare to find. Finally, this transit is about finding the ability to go deeper into yourself, your ideas and your sense of existence. These things have life on more than the level of thought or concept. Ideas are powerful, yet this transit indicates one of two things: Either you have reached a point of maturity that you have been working toward for a long time, or you are being compelled to do so whether you like it or not. To the extent you have noticed that you are fundamentally passive, Saturn will compel you to take an active role in your life and in your relationships. To the extent that you understand that authority is something we embody or we don’t grow, you will be granted enormous assistance in taking on your true role in the world. This is always what we must do with Saturn: Embody it fully, if compassionately. In doing so, we take away the authority that others seem to hold over us, whoever they may be. In ordering our lives, we liberate the energy we need to persist in our creative work and our service to the world. You are, by nature, a sober and sensible individual. You understand that life is an opportunity and a profound responsibility, only magnified by our commitments to others. Be grateful for every day these two years that Saturn is with you.
